Low Cost Faceplates?

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?  *LINK*

Andy in Raleigh

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Noble

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Andrew Hilton

>What size of spindle on your lathe and what are you planning to hang off of them?

If you're not planning to attach hundreds of pounds of wood on them, I'd suggest just making your own. It'll cost under $10 and you can make it exactly as you want it.

Two ways to go about it that I'll mention briefly:

1) Get a steel nut that fits your spindle. Get a good, solid piece of hardwood (Hard maple is my favorite even though it's not native here). Drill or otherwise make a snug hole to put the nut into. Glue it well and maybe even screw it down depending on the nut you have. Let it fully cure. Put your new faceplate on the lathe and true it up. Drill holes in it as (or "if") needed to attach your blanks, etc. I have dozens of these for my various lathes and for all kinds of purposes. I've not had one break or come loose yet. A whole lot cheaper than buying faceplates. Nuts are usually found for under $2 and some are much cheaper than that. I use maybe $1 - $3 worth of wood.

2) Basically the same as above but instead of buying a steel nut, you make a nut (tapping the threads, etc.) out of wood or just tap threads into a board with no need for a separate "nut". I've done this several times and just don't trust the wood threads for this purpose. For very light work it might be fine. Some that do this have had no problem so I'd say give it a shot and see for yourself if you like and trust it.

If you're handy with a torch and/or welding, you can always just make your own from some nuts and steel plate. It's mild welding and you don't have to be terribly accurate to keep things aligned and true. You can true it up when you get it on the lathe. There's a woodturner that does this and sells them pretty reasonably too.

Basic aluminum faceplates are available from the catalogs and are in the range of $15 - $25. They work well except that they do easily get dinged and chipped up if you're not careful with the tools. You may have to fix the sharp edges you create but that's easy with turning tools.

Lots of choices. I tend to prefer the steel nut / wood faceplates because they (and I) are cheap and easy to make the way I want them and do a great job. For larger work, I buy quality steel faceplates and don't worry about the price. They're a safety feature at that point. For demo's and classes, I use the aluminum ones. They look cool.

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Bill Sams

>Andrew, what type of glue are you referring to in joining the nut and hardwood?? Epoxy?

Thanks for the tip for the faceplates!

Bill

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Andrew Hilton

>I use either epoxy (NOT the 5 minute stuff ... use the long set time as it's not as brittle) or a polyurethane glue. The poly glue is good for joining dissimilar materials. The poly is just messier to deal with because of the foaming (which has absolutely NO strength to it). I tend to double glue when dealing with the poly ... pour some glue in there (NOT in the threads ) and let it sit. Cut back the foam-out and then glue over that. Never had a failure and I'm not tender with my turnings either.

Make sure you sink the nut at least half way into the wood and make it a good tight fit on dry wood. You'll also want to make sure you don't bottom out your spindle into the board as you thread your faceplate onto it. Basically, you make a "step hole" where the very center is a little deeper than the sides of the hole so that the nut sits on the "shelf". Otherwise, if your spindle bottoms out agains the board, you can just use a spacer over your spindle between the headstock and the faceplate nut.

Give it a whirl and let us know how it goes.

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Leo Van Der Loo

>Zeke there are other ways to make faceplates, or attach wood to your lathe, Darrel Feltmate's site has a wealth of info and I recomment it for anyone to have a look at.

WWW.aroundthewoods.com

Have fun and take care

Leo Van Der Loo

Tapped glue blocks *LINK*

Fred in NC

>Darrell Feltmate has very clear instructions for these and other homemade chucks. Like you said, worth looking into.

I bought a 1"-8 TPI tap from Grizzly clearance center, to match the spindle thread in my lathe. I think some CA in the wood threads would reinforce them very well. All for the price of a piece of waste wood.


Threaded blue blocks

? Source for 1 1/4 "- 8 Nuts for a PM3520A

Jerry Hall

>Any ideas for getting nuts for a Powermatic: 1 1/4 "- 8 Nuts for a PM3520A? All the web sites seem to only have 1 1/4-7 nuts. Thanks for any help. Also a tap for the same size?

Re: Here are my sources.

Al Crandall

>Hi Jerry. I don't speak html, but these url's will get you to JTS machinery where I bought my tap and die. You may find these items cheaper elsewhere, but the cost was within my budget and I was tired of searching for them. I bought the tap to cut wooden threads in shop made faceplates and to re-true the threads in metal nuts after I welded washers to them. I bought the die to fix the spindle threads on my PM4224 after a chuck backed off the end while I was running the lathe in reverse. I've been very happy with both the tap and the die.

Tap is found at:

http://www.jtsmach.com/jtswebshop/Taps_Dies/T060.asp

It is number 1-372-420 and costs $43.50

The die is found at:

http://www.jtsmach.com/jtswebshop/Taps_Dies/T126a.asp

It is number 1-368-27-8 and costs $32.20

The nuts I use are from McMaster.com and are number 90521A275. They cost $8.58 per pack of 5. I think I have seen them cheaper elsewhere, but I buy my washers there also so the combined shipping lowers the overall cost. I haven't been able to get the washer page at mcmaster.com to open so I can't get the number, but the washers I use are 4" diameter and 1/2" thick with a 1 3/8" hole. Happy hunting. Al

I have some but ....

Andrew Hilton

>Are there no places in your area that deal in specialty nuts, screws and/or industrial hardware supply? These 1.25" x 8 tpi nuts are often used in the oil-field and commercial construction (tie-downs for things like signs, signal lights, etc.) businesses.

An area industrial supplier is where I get mine. They did have to order them though as they were out at the time. I'll look tomorrow for the box the nuts came in and provide you with the manufacture and their product #.

If you can't find some easily, I do sell them myself for $2.50 a nut not including shipping.

By the way, the 1.25" x 8 tpi spindle is the same for the Jet 1642 lathe (a smaller version of that Powermatic).

Thanks for the help....

Jerry Hall

>Just ordered 15 from mcmaster.com. Thanks for the help. Pretty responsive you guys! I'm looking forward to putting together some different mounts.

Re: If your 3520 is like my 4224,

Al Crandall

>If your 3520 is like my 4224, there will be a section of the spindle next to the shoulder (which a nut seats against) which will be full diameter and unthreaded. You will need to undercut some of the threads in your nuts, or install a washer on the spindle prior to screwing on the nut.

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Greg in Oshkosh

>can't make this link work

Any help???

Re: Low Cost Faceplates?

Greg in Oshkosh

>Any source for a M33 x 3.5 nut that'll fit a oneway??

Link works for me. . .

Fred in NC

>

Re: I have some but ....

Andrew Hilton

>If some of you are still having a hard time finding these 1.25" x 8 tpi nuts, the manufacturer of the ones I buy is...

Simpson Strong-Tie Model#: TTN25114PF

You can pass this information on to your industrial supplier and they can get them for you if need be.

I have a few hundred of them if you can't get them locally.

Re: Low Cost Faceplates? *LINK*

Cheapwill

>You still use faceplates?

I only use them for permanent devices that will be affixed to the lathe over and over like a blank to press against a bowl inside when turning the bottom of a bowl.

Use your scroll chuck and make some wood false faceplates if you must. Just hold them in the chuck.

John


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